Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Don't Dry Coming November 7

Leisure Suit Larry - Wet Dreams Don't Dry is the seventh official Leisure Suit Larry game starring Larry Laffer, as Leisure Suit Larry 4 doesn't exist, and this fact is lampooned in the plot of Leisure Suit Larry 5. Magna Cum Laude and Box Office Bust star Larry Laffer's nephew, Larry Lovage.

It is being developed by the German game studio CrazyBunch, and, although it has had no input from series creator Al Lowe, it will be a point-and-click adventure, in the same vein as the classic Sierra series.

It will be released on the 7th of November and is currently available to pre-order for a 15% discount from GOG.com and Steam.

GOG.com Is 10, Sells Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine

GOG.com turned 10 years old this year, and to celebrate they held a sale and had added some more new games, alongside some more good old games, to their store.

One of those good old games is Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, the 1999 LucasArts title that brought Indiana Jones into the third dimension. This game borrowed heavily from the Tomb Raider series, which was fitting since Tomb Raider borrowed from heavily from the Indiana Jones film series.

Although it's in a different genre, Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine is a sequel-of-sorts to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, as the game sees Indiana Jones reuniting with Sophia Hapgood, the secondary player character from the earlier title.

Skybound To Finish Telltale's The Walking Dead Final Season

The official Twitter page of The Walking Dead was updated with news that Skybound, The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman's company, will be finishing the final two video game episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season.

Telltale previously stated that they were looking towards multiple partners to hire the staff of The Walking Dead Season Four so that they could finish the season properly. So, it looks like there's a (tiny) bit of good news for at least some the staff members that were let go from Telltale without warning last month.

Mark Darin, Telltale Alum, Starts Nick Bounty Kickstarter

Mark Darin created a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. You may remember Mark Darin as a designer at Telltale that helped create some of their best games (Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Puzzle Agent, Hector: Badge of Carnage, The Walking Dead, Tales from the Borderlands, and Batman Season Two, among many, many others).

Now he is going back to his roots. Before he became a designer at Telltale, he designed two free adventure games: Nick Bounty: A Case of the Crabs and Nick Bounty: The Goat In The Grey Fedora. He is now creating the third game in the series, that you can help fund now by going to the Nick Bounty and the Dame with the Blue Chewed Shoe Kickstarter page.

Telltale Games Lays Off Its Staff Except 25, Cancels Most Projects

Telltale's CEO Pete Hawley released a statement on Thursday that Telltale Games began a majority studio closure, keeping a staff of 25 on to fulfill the company's contractual obligations to its board and partners.

Today Telltale Games made the difficult decision to begin a majority studio closure following a year marked by insurmountable challenges. A majority of the company's employees were dismissed earlier this morning, with a small group of 25 employees staying on to fulfill the company's contractual obligations to its board and partners. CEO Pete Hawley released the following statement: 

"It's been an extremely difficult year for Telltale as we worked to set the company on a new course. Unfortunately, we ran out of time trying to get there. We released some of our best content this year and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback, but ultimately, that did not translate to sales. With a heavy heart, we watch our friends leave today to spread our brand of storytelling across the games industry." 

Telltale will issue further comments regarding its product portfolio in the coming weeks.

Mr. Hawley also responded to a question about the future of the remaining staff, stating, "to be clear, we're not shutting down. As odd as that may sound, 25 of us will continue, foreseeable. I'll make further comment in the coming weeks."

Telltale Games Announces Poker Night 2 Is No Longer For Sale

Telltale Games has announced that Poker Night 2 is no longer available for sale. The game was a crossover poker game from 2013, sequel to the 2010 poker crossover game Poker Night at the Inventory, and spiritual successor to Telltale's first game Telltale Texas Hold'em Poker. It was a single player game that allowed either Texas Hold'em and Omaha Hold'em rules of play that pit the unseen player character against several characters from pop culture, including Max from Steve Purcell's Sam & Max, Ash Williams from Army of Darkness, Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., and Claptrap from Borderlands, with GLaDOS from Portal as the dealer.
Telltale released a statement explaining the reason that the game is no longer available for sale.

Poker Night 2 has been withdrawn from sale on digital platforms due to the expiration of our digital distribution agreement. We currently do not have any plans to renew this agreement.

If you already purchased the game, you can still redownload it from the platform on which you bought it. Telltale has posted a support article explaining the process.

This doesn't affect Telltale's other poker games, as Telltale Texas Hold'em and Poker Night at the Inventory remain available for sale.

Double Fine's Broken Age Is Out Now On the Switch

Broken Age, the successfully crowdfunded adventure game by genre veteran Tim Schafer and his Double Fine Productions game studio is out now on the switch through the Nintendo eShop.
It was originally released in 2015 for Windows, Mac, Linux, Ouya, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.

Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure game that follows two young people, a girl named Vella and a boy named Shay. Shay lives in a spaceship and is kept overly protected from harm, while Vella is chosen by her village to be sacrificed to an alien monster. The difficulty in puzzles begins easy enough, but it ramps up as the game goes on.

In related Double Fine news, another Double Fine adventure game is slated to be released on the Nintendo Switch. Grim Fandango Remastered is an updated version of a game Tim Schafer made in 1998 while he was employed at LucasArts, following a grim reaper named Manuel Calavera as he discovers a conspiracy of crime and corruption in the land of the dead. No release date has yet been announced for this title, although it was announced with the Switch port of Broken Age, so the wait shouldn't be too long.

Nintendo Announces New Games and Ports for Switch and 3DS on Nintendo Direct

Last week Japan was hit hard by natural disasters. The first was Typhoon Jebi, the biggest typhoon in 25 years, hitting western Japan, followed by a 6.7-magnitude earthquake in Hokkaido. Due to this, the Nintendo Direct was postponed from its planned Tuesday release. After a short wait, Nintendo has released the Nintendo Direct and there are a lot of announcements for both the Nintendo 3DS and the Switch.

Luigi's Mansion 3 for Nintendo Switch

The Luigi spin-off action-adventure game that has the more easily frightened of the two brothers become a ghostbuster arrives on the Nintendo Switch in a brand new installment. This will be the third entry in the series, after the 2001 GameCube original and 2003's Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon on the Nintendo 3DS. The latter was also translated into an arcade game by Capcom in 2015.

Katamari Damacy Reroll - Katamari Damacy Remake for Switch

Katamari Damacy, the original game in the surreal action game in which the goal is to roll up everything in sight, is being remastered for the Nintendo Switch.
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Nintendo Switch Online

Nintendo Switch's online service is finally coming on September 18, for $3.99 a month, $7.99 for 3 months, or $19.99 for a year. It will also be available in a family membership for eight Nintendo account holders for $34.99 for a year. The service will allow you to play online in games such as Splatoon 2, ARMS, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Tennis Aces, and Mario Tennis Ultimate. Voice chat will only be available through the smartphone app. Some games, such as Fortnite, won't require the Nintendo Switch Online service to play. Nintendo Switch Online membership will also give you access to save game progress to the cloud. It will also give you access to twenty Nintendo Entertainment System games enhanced with online multiplayer at launch:

• Soccer
• Tennis
• Donkey Kong™
• Mario Bros.™
• Super Mario Bros.™
• Balloon Fight™
• Ice Climber™
• Dr. Mario™
• The Legend of Zelda™
• Super Mario Bros.™ 3
• Double Dragon
• River City Ransom
• Ghosts 'n Goblins™
• Tecmo Bowl
• Gradius
• Pro Wrestling
• Excitebike™
• Yoshi™
• Ice Hockey
• Baseball

More NES games will be added to the service in the upcoming months. Two wireless NES controllers for Switch will also be available for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers for $59.99.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe for Nintendo Switch

Another Wii U game is getting the deluxe treatment on Switch. This will include the entire New Super Mario Bros. U game, plus all of the courses from New Super Luigi Bros. U. It will also include two new characters. The first, Nabbit, is not affected by enemies, while the second, Toadette can transform into Peachette with a crown, allowing her to float like her namesake and double jump. She will also jump out of pits when she falls into them.

Town for Switch

'Town' is a 3D RPG for Switch about monsters that invade a small town. Not much else is known about it, aside from the fact that it is being developed by Game Freak, the creators of the Pokemon franchise.

Cities: Skylines for Nintendo Switch

The city-building game, Cities: Skylines, is available to purchase now for Nintendo Switch. both the After Dark and Snowfall DLC packs are included with your purchase.

Kirby's Epic Yarn for 3DS

The Wii platformer Kirby's Epic Yarn is being remade for the Nintendo 3DS.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey for 3DS

The Nintendo DS 'Mario and Luigi' RPG is getting a remake on the Nintendo 3DS, with a new sidequest starring Bowser Jr.

Luigi’s Mansion for 3DS

Just in time for the third installment's arrival on the Switch, the 2001 GameCube original is being remade for the Nintendo 3DS.

Shenmue I & II is Out Now

Shenmue I & II, the compilation disc of enhanced ports of Shenmue and Shenmue II, is out now for Windows on Steam, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Shenmue I now has improved camera control due to the addition of the second thumbstick. Shenmue II has the additional features of the Xbox port but does not have the excessive motion blur. Both games render at 1920x1080 resolution at 30 frames per second, and the resolution can be increased on the Windows version. The game can be rendered at a 16:9 or 4:3 screen ratio, although the cutscenes are still rendered at a 4:3 ratio.

Both English and Japanese voices are available, as are modern graphics features such as anti-aliasing, bloom lighting, better texture filtering, and warmer colors due to the increased bit-depth from the original 16-bit depth on the Dreamcast.

The Wolf Among Us Season Two Delayed Until 2019

Telltale announced on their website, that due to the "fundamental changes" (likely referring to the restructuring after a round of layoffs that happened due to a toxic environment that cultivated in the studio after the surprise success of the first season of The Walking Dead), The Wolf Among Us Season Two has been delayed until 2019.

They've stated that the reason for the delay is because they are "committed to exploring new ways to tell our stories. Taking this extra time will allow [them] not only to focus on quality but also to experiment and iterate in order to craft something truly special".

If this means that the gameplay will be significantly different than the cut-and-paste style gameplay that's been in Telltale's games since The Walking Dead, then the delay is certainly most welcome.

Shenmue III Delayed Until 2019

The much-anticipated continuation of the saga of Shenmue by series creator Yu Suzuki's Ys Net has been postponed until 2019.

Shenmue began on the Dreamcast in 1999 and Shenmue II will be released on the Dreamcast and Xbox a few years later. Both of the original two games will be released in high definition on Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One later this year.

Shenmue III has been postponed, according to publisher Deep Silver, to give the project extra time which will be "used to polish the quality of the game even further, to the high standards it deserves and release the product in the best possible timeframe".

Wagamama Alice and The Hundred Day's War English Tranlsation

I have obtained permission to translate the free Japanese visual novel/RPG, Wagamama Alice and The Hundred Day's War, into English. The translation is being done through GitHub so you can check it out on my repository if you're interested.

Since I posted about it on the game's forums, I thought I'd do a little progress update. It's still early days yet, as the translation just began on March 19th, and it's just me doing the translation at the moment.  There has been noticeable work that's been done so far though.

As you can see from the header image, I have created an English logo. I've also translated some of the user interface art:

Then there's the most important, but a bit more boring stuff. It doesn't come with pretty images, but the opening scene has now been translated into English.

I'll make sure to keep you all updated as the translation project progresses. :)

Curse of Monkey Island & Maniac Mansion On Steam And GOG!

The Curse of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion are available to buy again thanks to the licensing staff at the games division of Lucasfilm, Disney, Steam, and GOG.com!

You can pick up Maniac Mansion at Steam and GOG.com, and The Curse of Monkey Island at Steam and GOG.com as well.

If you're still in the mood for classic LucasArts goodness, there's a Monkey Island Promo on GOG.com where the Monkey Island Special Edition and the Monkey Island 2 Special Edition are each 70% off their regular price!

Telltale Shakeup

I last posted adventure game news way back in... 2016! Holy Moly! Since then, a lot has been going on at Telltale:

They've completed season one and season two of Batman, season two of Minecraft: Story Mode, season one of Guardians of the Galaxy (season 2 hasn't been announced... but it's pretty inevitable), and Season Three of the Walking Dead.

Plus, they announced season two of The Wolf Among Us (yes!), and announced that season four of The Walking Dead will be the final season.

Even more surprisingly, Kevin Bruner quit and Dan Connors stepped back temporarily as CEO. Then, Pete Hawley, the former general manager of games at Zynga replaced Dan Connors as CEO.

Then, on the 7th of November, a little more than a month after Pete Hawley became CEO, Telltale laid off 25% percent of its staff.

According to The Verge, the atmosphere at Telltale was toxic long before Pete Hawley came in. Kevin Bruner apparently stifled creativity and pushed employees into long crunch times.

Dan Connors was mentioned to be a much less imposing figure, but Pete Hawley isn't off to a great start. But some employees are hopeful that they'll have more creative freedom going forward.

I hope so as well. This blog was once named "Telltale Fan" after all. I wish the employees who are still at Telltale luck that they'll be able to once again make the games they want to, without being overworked. And, I wish those that lost their jobs luck in the future. If any of you haven't yet landed a new job, hopefully you will soon. And hopefully the next job will be your dream job.

I'm back

Sorry for the extremely long wait between posts. Thank you for your patience and understanding during the break.

The recent deaths of people close to me hit me pretty hard and I needed to take a break away from things for a while.

I'll be catching up with news for a while, and hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

And, it has to be said again - thanks again. You all are awesome.